Just imagine!At Bukit Bintang Central, the underground space is so narrow that the twin tunnels have to be stacked on top of each other, rather than being laid side-by-side as in all other areas. This means that one tunnel would have to be dug in such a way that it forms a mini spiral to one side, just so that it can be on top of the other tunnel, before curving back to the side-by-side formation after it passes the Bukit Bintang area!

I think its similar to when the trains enter the Central Market viaduct from the elevated guideway only 30 meters underground!

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 - The MMC-Gamuda joint venture unsurprisingly won the tunnelling job for the My Rapid Transit (MRT) line between Sungai Buloh and Kajang with its bid of RM8.2 billion, project owner MRT Corp announced today.

MMC-Gamuda is also the project delivery partner (PDP) to run the construction of the (first) 51km line, which is the country's largest infrastructure project and still without a total budget.

"The decision was made at a One Stop Procurement Committee (OSPC) meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak at Parliament yesterday," MRT Corp said in a statement today.

MRT Corp said MMC-Gamuda JV was chosen due to its expertise and experience in a similar project, the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) project.

The statement said MMC-Gamuda was one of five companies or joint ventures which pre-qualified for the job. The other tenderers were Hyundai-Gadang-Chengal Jaya Joint Venture, Taisei Corp, Sinohydro Group Ltd, and the China Railway Group Ltd. Only three out of the five passed the technical evaluation stage.

Yongnam actually only supplies the metal-work. They don't do the tunneling. The line is broken into several contracts and no single contractor handles tunneling. This is why we also have 19 machines working to dig tunnels on just a 16.6km stretch of line alone. There will be another 19 or so on another 21km stretch of line. Anyway, some of the contractors include Lum Chung, Mconnel Dowell, Ssangyong, Alpine, Shanghai Tunneling, Samsung Bachy, Taisei Corp, Leighton.

I'm guessing that MMC-Gamuda secured all 9-odd km of the tunnel contract?

Yongnam actually only supplies the metal-work. They don't do the tunneling. The line is broken into several contracts and no single contractor handles tunneling. This is why we also have 19 machines working to dig tunnels on just a 16.6km stretch of line alone. There will be another 19 or so on another 21km stretch of line. Anyway, some of the contractors include Lum Chung, Mconnel Dowell, Ssangyong, Alpine, Shanghai Tunneling, Samsung Bachy, Taisei Corp, Leighton.

I'm guessing that MMC-Gamuda secured all 9-odd km of the tunnel contract?

The tunneling work is awarded as single contract, then yes, MMC-Gamuda will do the whole 9.5 km tunneling work.